City High's Aubrey Joens (23) and her sister, Ashley, right, celebrate the Little Hawks' Class 5A regional final win over Bettendorf at City High on Tuesday, Feb. 20, 2018.(Photo: David Scrivner/Iowa City Press-Citizen)

After watching her two older sisters go through the recruiting process, Aubrey Joens knew what to expect as her basketball stock grew.

Interest came flowing in. The calls picked up. Her status as a Division I prospect became firmly cemented.

No need to delay a decision any longer.

Joens, a 2020 guard who averaged 12.9 points per game last season, committed to Iowa State on Thursday, she announced via Twitter. The City High product will join her sister Ashley, a five-star freshman. Courtney Joens, the oldest of the bunch, is a junior guard at Illinois.

Iowa State first offered Aubrey Joens last June, hoping to get in early just as the Cyclones had done with Ashley. The move worked.

“Iowa State’s always been at the head of her list,” Brian Joens, Aubrey’s father, told the Des Moines Register. “She was starting to field quite a few calls after the Nike Nationals, and she just didn’t want to keep other schools on the line. She wanted them to go ahead and move forward and give them a chance to recruit other kids.

“With the other (sisters), we did a lot of traveling and checking things out, so we’ve been through that process quite a few times. Rather than pack up and go look at all these other schools again, Aubrey was 100 percent Cyclones.”

Joens started for City as a freshman and kept growing last season, serving as a pivotal piece on the Little Hawks' 25-1 team. The 5-foot-8 guard shot 38 percent from the field, 36 percent from deep and 74 percent from the line as a sophomore.

Her recruiting profile continued to soar this summer while playing for the All-Iowa Attack, one of the state’s premier AAU teams. As the interest picked up, now seemed like a good time to cement a decision.

With Ashley back from her gold-medal tour with the FIBA U-18 USA team, the sisters made Aubrey’s decision official together.

"Ashley's a great teammate and a great role model," Aubrey said, "so I'm really excited to get to play with her."

Excited to announce that I will be continuing my basketball and academic career at Iowa state! Go cyclones❤️💛 pic.twitter.com/i97eAljD6s

Before beginning her collegiate journey, Aubrey still has two years left to leave an impact at City. She and 2019 Division I prospect Rose Nkumu will return this fall, looking to lead the Little Hawks back to the state tournament.

“Aubrey’s a pure shooter and is pretty fast,” City coach Bill McTaggart said. “Just a completely different style of play from Ashley. One big similarity is they love to be in the gym. Aubrey’s just like her sister (in that regard) — she loves to be in the gym and works on her shot constantly. Good court awareness too.

“Aubrey’s gotten stronger, and I can tell you we’re going to rely on her more this year than we did last year."

Dargan Southard covers Iowa and UNI athletics, recruiting and preps for the Des Moines Register, HawkCentral.com and the Iowa City Press-Citizen. Email him at msouthard@gannett.com or follow him on Twitter at @Dargan_Southard.